Lying there, she let him fondle her for a while longer, it was a lovely way to wake up, since he wasn´t pressuring her for sex. She knew that he touched her for pleasure´s sake, could feel him purr in satisfaction at her acceptance of his touch.
He leaned over and kissed her on the lips. “Good morning,” he greeted her, his voice gravelly from misuse.
They looked deep into each other´s eyes for a few minutes, the silence in the cave was deafening. He pressed another kiss to her lips, then grunted when he heard Remy shout for him. She elbowed him gently in the ribs to tell him to go, but kissed him softly in apology.
He disentangled himself from her body, and left her with Rafael, who was still sleeping. She looked up at his face, studied his features, and sighed in appreciation of his male beauty. His lips were lush and kissable, hard enough to be masculine, but soft enough to be lovely to kiss. Her thoughts turned to the day before, when she´d kissed him.
She sighed again at the remembered enjoyment. She looked at the strong jaw and chin that framed that gorgeous mouth, followed it up to the high cheekbones and broad forehead. His eyelashes were long, and they were the same black color as his brows and hair.
She wished that yesterday he hadn´t pulled free from her. She studied him intently for a few seconds, then lowered her hand to his morning erection, she fisted it in her hand and slowly moved her fingers up and down, she rubbed at the glans with the tips, then rubbed his balls together.
Keeping her movements unhurried and languid, she took pleasure in watching him awaken to the feelings of sexual excitement. His body arched and stretched sinuously, his muscles tensing every now and then. When her hand fisted tighter and moved faster, his eyes opened with a pop. His eyes tired, he nonetheless focused them on her, only shutting them, when his pleasure was too much to contain. He came with a low grunt, his come seeped through her fingers, but she managed to contain it, and did something that shocked both him and her.
She smeared the majority of it on his taut belly, but a small amount, she kept on her finger. She sat up slightly, looked him in the eye all the while, and pulled the neck of her T-shirt down, and rubbed the small amount of his come in the crevice between her breasts, scenting him on her skin.
His eyes flared with arousal, excitement, and sexual dominance. She compounded it by leaning down, and lapping slightly at the semen on his tight abs. He growled suddenly, reached for her head and dragged her up to his mouth. He kissed her with all the dominance he hadn´t shown yesterday.
Gone was the undemanding Rafe of last night. This time he dueled with her tongue, fought and won. He slowed down, and murmured against her lips, “Thank you, cariña.” He broke away from her mouth, and pressed his nose against her breasts and gave a gravelly purr of satisfaction. “Ours,” he muttered, almost inaudibly.
Yvonne didn´t hear, she was too astounded at her bold actions. Where the hell had all that come from? She hadn't thought about it, had just acted on an impulse. She’d behaved almost animalistic. She didn’t think she could have stopped herself had she even wanted to.
That crazy, wanton part of her that went all cave woman around them reveled in marking herself as theirs. That was what she´d done as well, the ´primate´ in her, recognized that she´d be scented with Remy and Armando´s semen, but not Rafael´s. Her baser instincts craved his possession as well, so much so that she’d marked herself with his essence.
Shaking her head, she wrapped her arms around Rafe. His tightened about her too. For a while they just sat in silence.
Dawn’s pale light seeped into the cave, giving them illumination they hadn’t had before. The color of the sunrise painted the cave walls with orange and pink light, cascading over their skin. Rafael glimmered in the light, looking like a bronzed sculpture of male perfection. He took her breath away looking at him.
A new day arrived that could take them all one step closer to freedom, but it would also take her that one step further away from Armando, Rafe and Remy. Danger would be swift to follow.
They had to escape the island, she wasn´t sure about how they would be able to manage it. Especially since none of them had any weapons, and they were up against dozens of trained mercenaries and soldiers.
There was no choice in the matter. Manage it, they must.
Yvonne knew she couldn’t allow them to be recaptured for this Project. That same primal part of herself that demanded she mark herself with each of their scents called her into action to fight for them.
Her strange, unbidden feelings for these men both scared and intrigued her. Here on the island, what they did didn´t matter, she could fuck all three of them--no one had to know after all, but back home, she would be classified as a slut of the highest order.
Deep inside, she wanted it to work, to change nothing but engage in some fantasy life where they could all live happily ever after. That shit only happened in books and movies, however.
She was kidding herself if she thought any of this was going to last. They would probably all go their separate ways if their plan worked out. She couldn’t help but enjoy herself for the brief time that she could have them.
“Was it truly that painful, Rafe? That first shift?” she asked into the quiet, wanting—needing to know more about him.
He sighed, and she could hear the weariness weighing heavily on him. “Yeah...it was so unexpected, that´s what made it worse. We didn´t know what the fuck was going on. The days before we shifted, we both had high temperatures and were running a slight fever. We stayed at home because of that, thank God, so we shifted in our condo. We fucking wrecked it. Imagine two big cats locked in a four bedroom condo--we were lucky the neighbors didn´t call the cops. It felt like dying, that first shift. You feel every bone and muscle stretch beyond the point of pain. Joints snap and fold. Claws rip out of your fingertips. Your gums rend as razor sharp teeth push out of them. I´m more used to it now, but that first time was really hell. We somehow shifted back, got a hold on the metamorphosis and learned how to control it, but then that need to go AWOL, as Remy phrased it, took over. We live near the everglades, about ten minutes away, so we had just enough time to get there and run. That was the first of many shit days,” he finished sadly.
“It must have been awful,” she whispered and hugged him tighter. She knew now that she´d been right to stop thinking of them as monsters. They weren´t anything of the sort. They were people, infected against their will, with this awful...hideous, incurable disease. They weren´t monsters or even animals, it was an infection that most likely could never be cured. “I´m so sorry Rafe, for all of you.”
He shrugged, but placed a kiss on the top of her head, “Thank you, cara.”
They lay together for a while longer, but separated when Remy and Armando came inside the cave.
Each man carried a bundle of food in their arms, some bird eggs and the boar from yesterday, as well as bamboo logs that held water. Gratefully, she accepted the water, but at the smell of the boar, she grimaced. She knew their concern was that she have something to eat, that she’d only get weaker the longer she staved off having sustenance.
It couldn’t change the fact that abhorred the feel and texture of meat in her mouth. She didn´t want it and she was hungry. Feeling like a little girl, she tried not to pout. It seemed incredibly stupid to hang on to something that was a detriment to her health, considering her situation, but it’d been so long since she’d adopted her lifestyle choice that it was her life and not something she could easily abandon.
Rafael laughed at the look on her face, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and said, “I found you some Vegan things last night while you slept.”
She noticed a small pile of berries and seeds on the floor beside the fire when he gestured towards them. She smiled up at him beatifically, and almost dove on them. He pointed at the berries, then at the seeds, “They´re Luma berries, and the seeds are Chilean hazels, or avellanos chilenos. They´re safe to eat and will give you much needed protein.”
They all ate their breakfast with relish, Yvonne moaning in delight at finally having eaten something and not feeling her tummy gnawing her to death.
Armando hesitated, but asked, “Yvonne, why were you chosen for this job?”
“I own Star Hunts, Inc. It´s a bounty hunting operation, I built it up from nothing, and in the business I´ve got a reputation...”
“Shit! Yvonne Jackson?” Remy looked at her appreciatively, “I´ve heard about you--you caught that bastard serial killer last year, didn´t you? It was all over the news. Hey we´ve got a tough one here, amis!”
“Yeah, Jeffrey Walter. Bastard,” she spat. “Anyway, I´m well-known for tracking rogue animals as well. A contact of mine offered me the job, and I took it. I was flown in a military plane from home to Chile, and then in a helicopter to a neighboring island. Apparently there´s no heliport or runway here on this one. The jungle is too dense and the ground to soft for heavy equipment to clear the land. The port is the only way on or off the island, and it´s heavily guarded. I remember looking around, seeing all the security and thinking that something was wrong with the information I´d received from my boss. No way would they need so much security if they were just testing on animals. Maybe if the facility was in the US, then yeah, but here on this island, no way. I thought I´d either been lied to, or it was just military paranoia. I´ve worked with a couple of ex-Army Rangers, I know how paranoid they are. The facility is about a mile inland from the port, you can see it from the ship. From what I remember, there´s a guard tower near the port, so no day-visitors can enter the island, and they´ve got a small fleet of boats patrolling the waters surrounding it. About a dozen in all. They must have a lot of manpower down here. Now, I know what´s going on, I can see why they need the protection.”
“Shit,” Remy growled. “No fucking way can we steal a boat and escape then, not with just the four of us. Ain´t going to happen. We´ve no fucking weapons, not even a knife. They´ll shoot us before we even take a foot off the island. I don’t know about y’all, but I can only heal so fast from a bullet wound. Enough of them hit us and we’re toast. And there ain’t nothin’ to keep Yvonne from getting’ hurt.”
“No, we don´t have weapons, but remember what you are, you´re cats--faster than the best soldiers, stronger, you know the island better than them, you´ve had to live on it long enough and you can use the jungle to your advantage. You heal fast, yeah, you´ve no protection from bullets, and I remember when I was shooting tranquilizer darts, the cats were sidestepping the frigging things--and I´m sure you can do that too. We need more of you though, if we can gather all the men that escaped the facility, and persuade them to join us, then I´m sure we´ll be able to overpower the guards,” Yvonne replied confidently. “Don´t forget, you´re their superhuman soldiers, there might be some shit you´re capable of, that you don´t know about yet. If we could get a few of the others, then we should be able to steal a ship--you´re Action Men, aren´t you?” she finished teasingly.
“The pheromone´s not as strong as it was yesterday, but I believe it´s still strong enough to attract other cats. The majority of the escapees ran as far as they could from the facility. I´ve seen some tracks, if we follow them and let the pheromone work for us, then we should be able to gather a few of them. Would you mind?” Rafe asked.
“No, so long as you guard me. I don´t fancy being raped by a bloody panther, I swear that damned one yesterday was thinking about it! It was a good job that Armando ran past, it was you, wasn´t it? That fought it off me?”
She smiled gratefully at his frowning nod. “Thanks, if it weren´t for you, I´d probably be traumatized for life!” she joked.
“De nada.” Armando said, smiling. She liked it when that hard face eased into a smile.
After they´d finished breakfast, they quickly left the cave and started the trek through the jungle to the tracks that Rafe had found yesterday while hunting.
The jungle humidity stifled the air, making it difficult to catch their breath. Yvonne was glad to not be weighed down by gear this time, but still didn’t find much relief in the sticky climate. She felt like she’d sweated out every drop of water she’d managed to garner.
Her thick hair clung to the back of her neck. She wore it in a high ponytail, but the hairs at the nape of her neck were still soaked with sweat. She felt better after having slept, but her muscles were still sore and tired.
Try as she might to keep up with the men, they bested her with their unnatural strength and endurance. As time passed and the day wore on, she knew there was no way in hell she could manage the punishing speed they´d set themselves.
Guilt at slowing their progress swallowed her. She was a major cog in their plan, so she didn´t feel too bad. She was going to help them escape after all, something that they probably wouldn´t be able to do without her help--that eased her guilt a little. Still, it irked her that for all her strengths, she was no match for any one of them when it came to hoofing it through the jungle.
Armando extended claws from one hand and slashed at a thick vine which immediately leaked water. He grabbed it and motioned her close. She tilted her head up, capturing the water he dribbled into her mouth.
“Thanks,” she said, grateful to him for his thoughtfulness.
He nodded, and they all stopped for a water break before continuing on.
Yvonne didn´t regret agreeing to act as bait, if the bloody pheromone could work for them instead of against them, then that was something at least in their favor. Her aiding them in their escape lessened the shame she felt for agreeing to work for the project in the first place.
She´d been in an untenable position, and was sure that most people would have jumped at the chance to earn that much money in one go, no matter the job. But now she knew the truth and the gory details of what was really happening here on the island. She was disgusted with herself, as she should have realized that the salary wouldn´t have been so high unless it was something the government wanted to keep hushed up, which in itself, was never a good sign!
Blood money. Plain and simple.
She felt stupid and dumb, avaricious and greedy. It didn´t matter that she knew she wasn´t, this situation made her feel that way. She wanted to help them, not only to appease the disgust she felt at herself, but because she needed to. She couldn´t bear the thought of them being stuck on this island, either until they were shot by the guards, or until they were caught and sent back to the facility to be tortured some more. She had to help them. If she had to act as bait then that was what she´d do.
“Is it just me, or is the pheromone getting stronger?” Remy asked with a pant, it was the first time she´d seen him out of breath.
“Yeah, it has been for a while. It must be exertion capturing it in her perspiration. Heats it up and strengthens it, releasing it into the air.” Armando nodded sourly.
Remy blew out a breath, then continued, “I thought when we first met her it was strong, fuck.”
“Well, I can´t help sweating in this heat. I don´t understand why you three aren´t! It´s not fair,” she teased with a sulky pout.
Rafe shrugged, “We´re not exerting ourselves enough to sweat, saying that though cariña, your scent is doing what the heat isn´t!”
“Hot stuff!” she joked, then spread her arms and laughed. “Can you believe my ex cheated on this? Must be blind!”
“Chérie, he must be!” Remy told her seriously, then grinned. “You are perfection itself, from your shiny nose, to the sweat patch on your back, I prostrate myself before you, as your most faithful servant!”
She laughed at him, swatted him on the back, and told him mock sternly, “A gentleman would never mention my shiny nose!!”
“Do you three never shut up?” Armando spoke over their laughter.
“Get a life, mec!” Remy teased.
He frowned, looking like a thundercloud, which only amused Yvonne further.
“I have one!” Armando said.
“Can we rest a seco
nd? I´m exhausted.” Yvonne panted, then said, “Are we near wherever we´re going yet?”
Rafael laughed, then chanted, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are there yet?”
Yvonne almost stumbled when they all, even Armando, laughed!
“I love being the butt of someone’s joke.” She harrumphed, earning more guffaws at her indignity. Sparing a glare at Rafe, she plopped herself down onto a large, moss covered stone. “Well, I´m tired! I haven’t been here as long as y’all.” She swiped a hand across her sweat-beaded brow, grimacing at the unrelenting heat.
“Yes, querida, we´re nearly there,” Rafael said.
She raised her eyes to the heavens and thanked every angel there! They seemed to have been walking for a long time, but didn´t actually appear to be getting anywhere.
The thick undergrowth looked the same in every direction, and it hampered their every movement. The heat and speed made her tired, but the amount of effort she had to put in just to clear a path for herself was exhausting. Oh how she wished she had a machete!
The worst of it fell upon Rafael, who led the pack and picked through and carved a path for them all to follow. Following him and Remy should have made it easier on her, but it didn’t. Not by much.
Already, her legs protested the trek. Her thighs and calves burned from the exertion. Her whole body felt tired, and what she really wanted was a nice long nap, and then a hot shower, clean clothes, and a huge bowl of spicy black beans and rice.
Oh, it was no use in entertaining such fantasies!
She dreaded to think how long they´d been traveling and how much further they had to go. It probably was a lot less than she thought. She felt as though they´d been traveling all day, but in reality they´d probably only been walking for a couple of hours.
She´d never felt so lethargic before, so exhausted and she´d been on ops very similar to this. She could only think that her body was reacting to their pheromones, if the chemical one strengthened in intense heat, then theirs would too, and she had it tripled!
[Project Nemesis] Jungle Fever Page 10
